Bless Me Father
by happyhooligan2001
Summary: A psychologicaly scarred Chloe O'Brian goes to confession. Post day 5 Now complete
1. Very Bad Things

Bless Me Father

The car pulled into the church parking lot and stopped. It sat there with the engine idling while the woman inside scanned the neighborhood suspiciously, upon deciding that nothing looked out of place she pulled into a parking space, killed the engine and got out.

She was a slightly built woman in her thirties. Her blond hair was pinned up and she wore a black knee length dress. Instead of pumps she wore flat heeled rubber soled dress shoes apparently forgoing fashion for speed and agility. Her eyes were red and swollen from crying. A casual observer might deduce that she had just been to a funeral. The fact is that Chloe O'Brian had been to far too many funerals.

Chloe quickly snatched the laptop off the seat and locked the doors. She squinted in the bright sunlight at the church and hurried over. As she approached the church the doors opened releasing the parishioners from the Saturday evening service. Chloe got out of their way and pressed her back against the brick wall by the door.

The bricks were hot from the late afternoon sun and the heat soaking through the back of her dress felt good. What didn't feel good was the weight of the 9mm automatic pistol she wore in a shoulder holster under the dress. Chloe didn't like guns and usually didn't wear one but since the attacks on her life last week her paranoia overcame her misgivings. For someone like Jack strapping on a pistol was as natural as putting on his socks but Chloe would never get used to it. She felt especially awkward bringing one into a church. 'Sure hope God doesn't find out,' she thought.

As the people walked past her chattering to each other she felt another panic attack coming. Her heart started racing as the blood rushed in her ears, it suddenly became very hard to breath. 'Not now,' she thought squeezing her eyes shut. 'Deep slow breaths, I can get over this!'

Eventually the roaring stopped and Chloe opened her eyes. The crowd thinned out so she slipped into the cool darkness of the church. Her hand immediately dipped into the holy water and she blessed herself. The O'Brian family had always been Irish Catholic but no one would ever accuse them of being very devout. Chloe's own attendance was sporadic at best and nonexistent at worst but this time was different. She needed to connect with somebody.

She pressed herself into the corner and stared at the bald bearded priest still shaking hands with the few stragglers leaving the church. As she waited Chloe mentally reviewed his file. She had run background checks on seventeen priests before selecting this one.

Father Michael Stanley Petrowsky. Age 71. Born February 6, Bakersfield California. Both parents dead. Two younger sisters, both married and living out of state. Ordained 46 years, Society of Jesus. 23 years in the U.S. Navy Chaplain Corps. 3 tours in Vietnam. Retired with the rank of Commander. Honorable Discharge. No connections with any radical groups. No arrests. One speeding ticket 6 years ago.

Father Petrowsky noticed the woman when she slipped in. He didn't recognize her and she stood quietly in the corner clutching the laptop to her chest. There seemed to be something odd about her. It wasn't until he looked into her eyes that he sensed it. He had seen it with the marines in Vietnam and at Balboa Naval Hospital. Shell shock, battle fatigue, post traumatic stress, the thousand mile stare, bad things happened to this woman, very bad things.

When the last parishioner left she pushed away from the wall and approached him.

"Hello Miss, I'm Father Mike, how can I help you?"

"I'm not 'Miss', my name's Chloe and I want to go to confession. No little dark booths either, face to face, eye to eye."


	2. Bug Hunt

Bless Me Father

I don't own the rights to 24, if I did Jack Baur would realize that the perfect woman is the beautiful cranky bitch who is always there when he needs her.

"Very well Chloe, how about my office then?"

"Whatever."

Father Mike's office was furnished with heavy old fashioned furniture and thick carpet. It was decorated with the usual assortment of religious pictures and a crucifix. There was a picture of the pope and the local bishop. A large window showed the street outside. As they entered he waved his hand at a pair of overstuffed chairs facing each other in front of a bookcase.

"Have a seat and we can begin."

Chloe, ignoring the priest and the chair, strode to the desk and opened her laptop. She pushed a button and a small plastic cylinder popped about two inches from the side. She pulled the rest of the seven inch cylinder from the computer and flicked a small switch. A pair of metal arms sprang from the sides and the device gave off a low hum. As Father Mike watched curiously she went around the room scanning it, chewing on her lower lip as she checked the readings.

"You don't think my office is bugged do you?"

"No, I don't think your office is bugged. I don't think a lot of bad things but they keep happening anyway. Go figure."

"I'm a federal agent. You have that whole priest sacred vow of silence thing and I respect that. But a lot of things we discuss today may be classified. I just need to take certain precautions."

Apparently satisfied with the readings Chloe opened the door to the small closet and glanced inside. She attached a pair of small adhesive devices to the window and pulled the curtains shut. She then pulled a small chair under the light fixture. Chloe started to climb up when the priest saw her stumble. He stepped forward but she waved him back.

She stood there gripping the back of the chair breathing deeply with her eyes closed. Lips moving as if saying something to herself. Beads of sweat dampened her forehead.

"Are you OK?"

"I'm fine!" she grunted, "Tried to stand up too fast and got dizzy."

For a secret agent she's not a very good liar, he thought.

A few minutes later she stepped up on the chair seat and scanned the light fixture. She made a small nod, got down and pulled the chair back to the wall. She scowled at the large picture window opening into the hall.

"Don't worry, we're alone and if anyone comes in they will have to come in through those doors over there and we'll see them."

"OK, fine," she muttered and plopped herself into the chair facing the hall window.

The priest sat in the chair across from her. The large chair made her look even smaller. She had her arms crossed over her chest protectively and regarded him with a sullen look.

Father Mike made the sign of the cross blessing Chloe and then waited.

"Now you say…"

"I know what to say! I'm not stupid!" Chloe snapped.

She then bowed her head, "Bless me Father for I have sinned, it has been seven years since my last confession. These are my sins.


	3. Even Terrorists Like Pizza

Bless Me Father

Even Terrorists Like Pizza

I don't own Chloe O'Brian or anyone else from 24. I don't own anybody. I think owning people is just wrong. Didn't we fight a war over this once?

"Why so long?"

"Because I'm not very religious."

"But something brought you here today?"

"Yeah, things change."

"Very well, let us begin."

Chloe leaned back in the chair and wondered where to start. "Last week I had sex with a man who worked for me."

"Do you love him?"

"No, I didn't even like him very much and now I hate him."

"So why would you want to sleep with him?"

"I don't know! Because I was lonely. Because I was horny. Because I'm thirty four years old and I've never been a teenager. Because I'm starting to realize that the husband, the kids, the dog in the yard just isn't in my future. Because I decided to take whatever I can get. But I'm not a slut! I don't normally do this!"

"But now you hate him."

"He used me then betrayed me. He betrayed all of us. People died."

"Have you forgiven him?"

"Hell no!"

Father Mike looked up at the crucifix. "Jesus was also betrayed by someone he loved, yet on the cross he forgave them all. He told us we should love our enemies."

"Guess what? I'm not Jesus!"

The priest allowed himself a small smile, "Yes, he does set a high standard. I'll make it a little easier. He just wants us to love our enemies. We don't necessarily have to like them. Just hope that they will repent their sins and turn from their wickedness. Forgiveness is just the first step."

"OK, I can live with that."

"And don't forget, accidents can happen. If you had a child by this man it wouldn't be fair to the baby."

The thought of a little Spencer growing inside her made Chloe suddenly glad she skipped lunch. "I guess not."

"So are you sincerely sorry for this?"

Chloe thought about Spencer grunting on top of her while she lay there with her eyes shut trying to think about Jack. "Yes."

"Do you have any other sins to confess?"

"I've killed people. The first one was a couple of years ago when I …"

Chloe's purse chirped and she got an expression of severe annoyance as she fished her PDA out of it. "O'Brian, wadya want?"

……….

"Patrick, just follow your instructions and log the call."

………

"None of your beeswax where I am."

……….

"No, they're not sending a secret message to an agent at Domino's Pizza. They're ordering pizzas."

……….

"We do a routine check of everyone they call and we already cleared the pizza place."

……….

"Well gee Patrick, I don't know! Maybe they want pizza. Even terrorists like pizza."

………..

"Look, it's Saturday. Every Saturday they order pizzas and watch football. The Jihad always comes to a screeching halt anytime there's a game on."

………..

"The Detroit Lions, what can I say? They're evil and crazy."

………..

"They're an inactive sleeper cell. They spend a lot of time goofing off."

………..

"No Patrick, you're not calling Karen Hayes, you're going to log the call and forget about it."

………..

No! I'm your boss and I'm telling you not to call her. If you insist of wasting her time she'll be in the office on Monday. You can tell her all about the International Pizza Conspiracy then!"

…………

"Yeah! You got me! I'm over here shivering in terror that you're going to go over my head and call Hayes! Listen! I take full responsibility! Just log the call!

…………

"Yes! You're right! I'm not there! How perceptive! You'll be a field agent in no time!"

………….

"No, I can't stop you. Fine! Call Karen Hayes on her day off and tell her all about the pizza order. Be sure to tell her what the toppings are! She'll be thrilled! She'll probably give you a medal!"

Chloe folded the PDA and dropped it back into her purse. "Jackass!"

She looked back at Father Petrowsky, "That phone call is part of my confession and subject to the seal of silence. Not a word of it is to leave this room."

"I wouldn't dream of it."


	4. I'm rude

Bless Me Father

I'm Rude

I don't own 24 or any of the people in it. The Fauve person I mentioned is from the story Talk It Out by Aragothwinelfblade and used with her permission. I will mention more about Fauve later.

"So who did you kill and why?"

Chloe pressed her fingertips together, "First of all let me explain something to you. I told you I was a federal agent. That does not mean I'm James Bond. I don't dangle upside down from a piano wire disabling alarms. I don't have a black belt in kung fu, karate, judo, or any other martial arts. My car does not turn into a submarine. And I don't go around willy nilly killing bad guys. We have people to do that but I'm not one of them.

"I work at the Counter Terrorist Unit as a systems analyst or if you prefer, a computer nerd. I don't go into the field unless I absolutely have to. I sit on my butt all day staring at a screen. But a couple of years ago I had to go out into the field to access a computer. Some hit man showed up, killed the agents who were protecting me, and tried to kill me and a civilian informant. I obtained a rifle and shot him to death."

"How did it make you feel?"

"At the time I was the most scared I had ever been in my life. When I killed him I just felt relief. I was shaken up but I was just glad it was over. I know I'm supposed to freak out or some thing but I never did."

"The second time was last week the day President Palmer was assassinated. The people who killed him also killed some friends of mine and tried to kill me. I shot one of them but Jack actually finished him off. Again I felt relief that he was dead. I don't feel bad about either one of them. But I'm not crazy! I don't enjoy killing people! You've been in a war! How are people supposed to feel about this?"

Father Mike felt somewhat shocked. This small, almost bland woman didn't seem like a killer. He wondered how much of the story she wasn't telling. "First of all there is no right or wrong way to feel. Different people react in different ways. There is nothing wrong with how you feel. Second of all you didn't sin. The Church permits killing to defend yourself, others, or society. You are not a murderer. You haven't killed anyone else have you?"

"No, not directly, sometimes I direct people by infrared satellite. It isn't as easy as people might think. Everyone looks like an orange blob and the good blobs look just like the bad blobs. If a large tactical team is hitting a stronghold it's like playing chess where all the pieces are the same color and look exactly alike. I have to keep track of who the white rook and the black bishop are by memorizing their movements and positions. It's easy to forget that some of those blobs are people I care about while I'm sitting like some tin god, safe and sound, miles away directing their movements. Sometimes when someone dies I can see their body getting darker as it cools down. Not many people can do it but I'm the best. She said, not bragging but merely stating an obvious fact.

"I see, but again you are protecting society. There is nothing wrong with what you do."

Chloe shut her eyes for a moment gripping the arms of the chair. "I'm rude."

"You're rude?"

"Yes, and quit pretending you haven't noticed! I treat everybody like crap! I've probably been rude to you. If so I'm sorry but it's just the way I am!"

"Why do you act this way?"

"My friend Fauve thinks it's Asperger's. It gives me all this wonderful intelligence and powers of concentration and all it wants in return is my ability to relate to other people."

"My work is very important. I might be scanning financial records, checking lists of license plates, or tracking that red Ford Mustang through town without confusing it with all the other red Ford Mustangs. If I miss something, if I get distracted, then horrible things might happen and innocent people might die. So of course everyone wants to distract me! 'No I don't want to hear about your boyfriend! I'm busy!' 'I don't give a flying ffffiish about the cute guy on American Idol! I've got work to do!' 'No Angie! I don't want to see your stupid baby pictures. I'm doing my job and you should too!' Angie's baby is going to grow up without his mother because I missed something!"

"So I'm the Bitch Queen! Cranky Chloe! Old Sourpuss! I know what they think of me! But Edgar understood. He never got mad at me no matter how mean I was to him. He was my friend, a good man who I treated like crap and now he's dead."

Chloe squeezed her eyes shut trying to keep the tears from coming out. She didn't want the priest to see her crying. To think she was weak. "Fauve understands and so does Jack, Bill sometimes gets mad at me but I think he understands too." Chloe was finding it hard to speak without her voice cracking so she fell silent.

Father Mike locked his fingers behind his head. Apparently this woman had spent most of her life building a hard shell around herself and now he could see the lonely, hurt woman inside the shell. "Rudeness is a violation of the virtue of charity but if you have a personality disorder you aren't fully responsible. The Asperger's should be considered a gift. Without your intelligence and powers of concentration you wouldn't be as effective. It may have even saved some people's lives. Still you should strive to be nicer to people as much as you can.

"Nicer! Sure! I'll try to remember that."


	5. CTU Destroys Everybody

Bless Me Father

Chapter 5

CTU Destroys Everybody

Disclaimer: I don't own the rights to Chloe O'Brian or anyone else from 24.

"Let's see." Chloe pondered. "Oh! I tazered a man in a hotel bar. He was an innocent civilian who posed no physical threat to me or anyone else."

"So why would you do that?"

"It happened while I was helping my friend Jack hijack an airplane."

"You were hijacking an aircraft inside a hotel?"

Chloe took a deep breath, leaned back in the chair and looked up at the ceiling as if asking God where he ever got such a stupid priest. "No, I wasn't hijacking a plane inside a hotel," she said with exaggerated patience. "That would be silly! I-WAS-HELP-ING! It was the plane that made the emergency landing on the highway. You might have seen something about it on T.V. between Mother Angelica reruns. But we don't hijack planes for fun! It was a matter of national security!"

Chloe noticed the priest's eyes and mouth all getting wider and decided to get back on topic. "So I was checking passenger manifests in the hotel bar and this man tried to pick me up. I told him to go away but he wouldn't. Remember what I said about people distracting me while I'm working? There were lives at stake! I was working undercover so I couldn't explain what I was doing so I had to knock him out. I'd rather I didn't have to but I don't regret it. Under the same circumstances I would do it again."

"I suppose what you did was in the line of duty and you felt you had no choice. Still you should appologise to that man if possible."

"I doubt that I would ever see him again but if I do I will." Chloe crossed her arms even tighter across her chest. "So! Are you going to make excuses for everything I do? I'm not a very nice person."

Father Mike felt he was beginning to understand something about Chloe so he decided to lead her on another tact. "You must enjoy your job, it sounds exciting."

"My job sucks! It's long months of mind crushing boredom punctuated by short periods of sheer howling terror. Security's a joke! I can't even carry nail clippers on an airplane but they let a total stranger walk in with a barrel of nerve gas! You've heard about the terrorist attacks on us last week? Well it's worse than you know. We had a death rate of over fifty percent that day. A few years ago we were bombed. Not to mention all the agents killed in the field. Inside the building we have a Wall of Remembrance with pictures of all the CTU employees killed in the line of duty. It's full! We had to continue on another wall! But in the end we won. We always win. We're the good guys. Hooray for the good guys! But it always costs us. Friends I've known for years murdered right in front of me! Marriages break up. Lives are shattered. Nervous breakdowns. CTU destroys everybody who joins it. One way or another it kills every one of us."

Father Mike sat in stunned silence. Any military unit that suffered those kind of casualties was considered destroyed. Yet somehow they continued in spite of all the horror and the pain and in the end they won. He found it hard to imagine what this woman had gone through, what she was still going through. "Your bosses must think very highly of you."

"My bosses are usually clueless morons. 'Oh no! Chloe's doing her job! She looking for bad guys instead of helping us arrest Jack for the umpteenth time! Let's yell at Chloe! Let's fire Chloe! Let's arrest Chloe and drag her butt to interagation! ' I don't need this kind of aggrivation!"

"They must pay you very well to go through all that."

Chloe made a Bronx Cheer , "Did I forget to mention that I work for the government?" She tapped her temple with her finger, "Genius! I could quit tomorrow and find a dozen companies who would hire me for a lot more money."

"So why don't you?"

Chloe's eyes narrowed and her lips tightened as she stared at the man across from her.

"You don't work there for the excitement, there's no prestige, you don't do it for the money, and if you stay there's a good chance you will eventually be killed so why do you keep going back every day?"

For a long moment the only sound in the room was the ticking clock, the sound of traffic outside and the soft hum of the air conditioner. Then Chloe whispered "I can't quit. They need me."

"I see." Then the priest smiled, "It must often be so, when things are in danger: Someone has to give them up, to lose them so that others may keep them."

Chloe's brow furrowed, she'd seen that quote somewhere before. "Frodo said that, Return of the King."

"Yes, Frodo saved the Shire, he saved the world, but not for himself. He couldn't enjoy it. It is the same with you and your CTU friends. You saved the world but you can't live in it. You can't enjoy it the way the rest of us do. You've given it up so the rest of us can have it."

"Chloe, you were right when you said you weren't a very nice person, but you're a very good person which is better. Not all good people are nice and not all nice people are good. You have a lot of pent up hostility inside you but you also have a lot more love. You might not like a whole lot of people but you love nearly everybody. It's more than just patriotism. You love all the people out going about their everyday jobs. You love your coworkers or their deaths wouldn't affect you so much. You might not like that man in the bar but you would lay down your life for him.

Chloe never thought about it that way before. She never wondered why she kept going back day after day to a job she hated. She thought how much love Jack must have. He had given up everything! He had no family, no home, no life, and now he was lost. The thought of Jack reminded her of another sin. "I bit my boss, Bill Buchanan, I broke his finger and nearly took it off."


	6. The Good Shepherd

Bless Me Father

Chapter 6

The Good Shepherd

Disclaimer: I don't own Chloe O'Brian or anyone else from 24. The often mentioned but never seen Fauve is from Aragothwinelfblade's story Talk It Out and used with permission from the author. If you want to meet her you will just have to go over there. Go ahead! Don't be shy! She'll be happy to meet you.

"The morning President Logan resigned I had been up all day and night so I was pretty bushed. The bomb squad hadn't finished with my car yet so I had my ex-husband, Morris, drive me home. On the way back I got the call that Jack was missing so we immediately drove back. Time is critical when someone's missing and every minute delayed makes the trail colder. I got right to work on my station trying to find him.

"So you don't know where he is?"

"If I knew where he was he wouldn't be missing." Chloe didn't actually say "Duh" but it was implied. "We don't know who could have taken him. There's so many possible suspects it would probably be easier to list the people in the world that Jack hasn't pissed off at one time or another."

"Whoever did it either knew when the satellite passes were or they got lucky. They were probably unarmed because the President was at the airport. People going in are searched but no one searches the people leaving. We had a whole lot of nothing."

"Are you sure he's still alive?"

"If they just wanted him dead they probably would have killed him and left the body somewhere. Moving a corpse around an urban area is difficult and risky. Besides he's not dead until I see the body."

"So what did you do?"

"I scanned message traffic, studied satellite photos, hacked into traffic cameras. Trying to find some clue. I don't know how long I was working but it was well over fifty five hours without sleep. Did you know one of the symptoms of sleep deprivation is hallucinations? I guess I didn't have enough blood in my caffeine system because I saw Habib Marwan , the terrorist, there at CTU. He was trying to pull me away from my workstation because he didn't want me to find Jack! I started screaming and fighting but he was too strong. So when I got the chance I bit his hand. I felt the bone break and tasted blood. I could hear him yell and I was glad because then Marwan would let me go and I could get back to work. Then I realized that it wasn't Marwan and that I had Mr. Buchanan's hand in my mouth and a red shirt was trying to pry my jaws open."

"I tried to apologize to Mr. Buchanan while he took me outside to his car. I think I fell asleep in his back seat because I woke up the next day in my bed. Bill must have carried me into my apartment, broken finger and all. I was uncomfortable going back to work and told him I was sorry. I thought he would be mad because he hand was in a splint. Maybe yell at me or even fire me but he just smiled at me and asked if I was feeling better. He didn't even fill out a report."

"I still don't feel comfortable being in the same room with him and I can't look him in the eye and I think everybody's laughing at me behind my back but worst of all the trail had gone cold. I let Jack down when he needed me the most." Chloe was looking at her lap wringing her hands, clearly embarrassed.

"You must like your friend Jack a lot to go through so much for him."

"Jack and I… well…" Chloe had never told anyone how she felt about Jack but she had to tell someone. This man was bound by ancient vows. He wouldn't gossip or laugh at her. "I love him. I've loved him for years in every way a woman can love a man. Except physically." She added a little wistfully.

"Does he share your feelings?"

"Oh sure! He loves me! I'm just like the little sister he's never had." Her voice got a little edge to it. "He's got a girlfriend. She's everything a man looks for in a woman. She's beautiful, successful, polite, graceful, sexy, well groomed and dumb as a brick. Everything I'm not. I can't compete with that. But she's not going to save him. I am!" She glared at the priest as if daring him to argue with her.

"And if he still chooses her over you?"

"So be it." Chloe muttered, "At least he'll be safe and happy. But the two of us have a special bond, something he's never shared with anyone else. Not his girlfriend, not his daughter, not even his late wife. Just me and him. It might not be everything I want but it's something Audrey will never have."

"Very well, but to help Jack you have to help yourself." Chloe cocked an eyebrow. "Chloe have you been having panic attacks? Heart racing? Difficulty breathing? Cold sweats? Paranoia? Nightmares?"

Chloe had all that and CTU was certainly nightmare fodder. A hotel full of dying people, George Mason riding that bomb down like the cowboy in Dr. Strangelove, a frightened old woman dying of radiation poisoning alone in her home, Edgar staring at her through the glass, foaming at the mouth.

"It's not that bad. I can get over it."

"Chloe, you have post traumatic stress disorder. You've had some horrible experiences and you need some help to get over it. I've had some experience dealing with it but I suspect you already knew that."

Chloe gave him a puzzled look.

"Chloe, we've never met before today and I never told you anything about my past but earlier you mentioned that I've been in a war. I suspect our meeting wasn't entirely random."

He noticed Chloe's eyes widen momentarily then narrow. Her ears started turning a delicate pink color. "OK! So I ran a background check! There's another sin for me to confess! We already agreed that I'm not a nice person. I'm sorry!"

"Chloe I'm not mad at you and there's nothing in my past I'm really ashamed of, not since my Junior Prom anyway. You were just being thorough, maybe obsessively so, but that's part of who you are, part of what makes you so effective. But you're not running at 100 percent right now. You need some help.

"No! No psychiatrists, no psychologists, no grief councilors, no drugs! The psychiatrists at CTU can't wait to tell Hayes and Buchanan how crazy I am! I'm not talking to them!"

"Isn't there anyone you can trust?"

"Well there's Fauve, she's a psychiatrist but she's also my friend. I don't want to tell her about bad Chloe, the one who hurts people. Who can kill a man and then not care."

"There is no bad Chloe, just Chloe. If she's really your friend she will understand why you sometimes have to do the things you do. Do you trust her?" Chloe nodded, "Then let her do her job.

"You should also talk it over with fellow survivors of the attack. Those who have been through the fire with you. The only ones who can truly understand.

We few, we happy few, we band of brothers

For he today that sheds his blood with me

Shall be my brother be he ne'er so vile."

"That's from Henry V," Chloe said, "I've got the movie." 'Kenneth Branagh is so cute,' she thought, 'Especially when he's muddy.'

"Yes, it's from his speech before Agincourt. Before the battle the English army had been decimated by battle and disease. They had been through the fire and now they were facing a superior force, outnumbered and out armed. Their chances seemed slim but the hardships they had gone through created special bonds between them, the band of brothers, and they went on to victory. You have your own band of brothers and sisters who have suffered with you. Together we can make you better. You might never completely get over it. Some scars never heal completely. But you will get better."

Chloe nodded, she did want to get better. She was tired of being constantly afraid. The panic attacks, the paranoia, and the nightmares. This man seemed to know what he was doing. She decided to conclude the confession. "For these and all the sins of my life I am sorry."

"Very well, for your penance first of all I want you to try to stop feeling so guilty over your perceived failures. You didn't kill your friends or lose Jack. You fought for them the best you could and no one could have done more. Second there's a blue rosary on my desk near your computer. Please accept it as my gift and say a rosary for each of your departed friends for the repose of their souls."

"OK."

"And third, say two rosaries for each of your dead enemies." The last one earned him a burning, angry glare. "No Chloe, I'm not overly optimistic over the fate of their souls but it's not for us to judge. The important thing to learn to forgive our enemies and remember no prayer is ever unheard or wasted."

"OK! I get it! Two rosaries for each of the slimy, murdering, scumbags!"

Father Mike held his hand over her. "I absolve you from your sins in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit."

As they stood Chloe asked "Can I come back next week?"

"Anytime you want. You'll always be welcome. Will I see you in church tomorrow morning?"

"I'll try."

"Do or do not. There is no try."

A rare smile creased across Chloe's face. "OK, you've quoted Tolkien and Shakespeare but no fair quoting Yoda! I'll be here."

As Chloe collected her laptop and anti listening devices he told her. "When the good shepherd has a hundred sheep and loses one. He will leave to ninety nine to look for the lost one. And when he finds it he will lift it on her shoulders and call his neighbors and friends to rejoice with him for he had found his lost sheep. I promise to pray for you and Jack every day until you find your lost sheep and bring him home."

Chloe paused for a second, then on impulse she stepped over and kissed the old man on the cheek. "Thank you," she whispered then went out the door.

As Chloe walked to the chapel she felt as if a great burden had been lifted. She no longer felt alone. 'I've got the other survivors,' she thought, 'My band of brothers, we can help each other. Well Kim probably won't want to join our little club and Barry gives me the creeps. But the rest of us can. And I will call Fauve tomorrow afternoon and tell her everything. Fauve isn't exactly a pure sweet angel herself and it's about time she found out that nerdy little Chloe's a cold blooded killer. Maybe I can shock her for a change.'

'And Father Mike's a swell guy but what's with all the rosaries? One for each of my dead friends and TWO for each of the dead terrorists may they roast in hell for eternity with worms munching on their tender bits! Doesn't he know how many that is? This shouldn't take long. I ought to be done by OH CHRISTMAS! Well the first two will be for Tony and Michelle, then Edgar and Angie and on down the line. The evil creepy bastards will just have to wait their turn.'

As Chloe entered the chapel she decided to first say a prayer for Jack. Pray that his other guardian angel will keep him safe until this guardian angel can find him because she will never stop looking for him. Never! As she knelt down another small thought intruded. 'This damned gun is chafing like a bitch. Maybe I'll leave it at home tomorrow."

Chloe began to pray.

'


End file.
